MT Stage Returns, Continuing Over 30 Years of Student Creativity and Collaboration at UA Little Rock

For more than three decades, gifted middle and high school students from across Arkansas have gathered at UA Little Rock to transform an empty stage into an original production. This summer, that tradition continues as MT Stage: From the Bard to Broadway! returns, inviting a new group of students to explore how a classic story can be reimagined for today’s stage.

The Jodie Mahony Center for Gifted Education will host MT Stage from June 29 to July 3, inspired by Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. This year’s program explores one of musical theatre’s most enduring creative practices: adaptation. Students will examine how Shakespeare’s classic tragedy has been reimagined for Broadway and contemporary audiences before creating their own interpretation. Each summer, MT Stage challenges students to use research, collaboration, and creativity to transform ideas into an original production.

While the theme changes every few years, the heart of the program has remained steadfast since its creation in 1994. MT Stage was founded by Leslie Dudley Corbell, then a graduate student at UA Little Rock, who saw an opportunity to blend musical theatre with the learning principles she was studying in gifted education. As part of her master’s work, she designed MT Stage as an internship project for submission to the state-funded Academic Enrichment for Gifted/Talented in Summer (AEGIS) programs, developing an experience that went beyond a traditional theatre camp and gave students ownership of the entire creative process.

Rather than simply performing a musical, students take part in every aspect of bringing one to life – writing, composing, acting, and directing their own work. What began as a graduate internship project quickly resonated with students and turned into one of the Jodie Mahony Center’s longest-running summer enrichment programs. 

Corbell even captured that vision in the program’s name. 

“Obviously, MT Stage stands for music theater stage, but it was also meant to represent an empty stage,” she said. “The idea was that you would bring together a group of young people with their own perspectives, experiences, and interests, give them a theme, and then watch them create something entirely unique.”

Every summer, that concept comes to life as kids step into the roles of writers, composers, actors, and directors. Working together, they turn research and ideas into an entire production.

For Corbell, the goal was never simply to teach theater.

“I hoped they would share that love of musical theater and learn history, but also understand more about themselves,” she said. “When you look at stories, you learn about human nature, motivation, and how people solve problems. Those lessons stay with you.”

This approach reflects a core principle of gifted education: students learn most deeply when they are given the freedom to pursue subjects that genuinely capture their interest. Through the process of creating an original musical, students develop far more than artistic abilities. They learn to collaborate, communicate, solve problems, manage disagreements, and think critically as they work toward a shared goal. Whether writing lyrics, developing scenes, or performing onstage, students are constantly challenged to turn ideas into reality.

“Learning follows interest,” she said. “Once you’re emotionally attached to something or personally interested in it, your learning can go very deep.”

More than three decades after its founding, MT Stage continues to give students the opportunity to transform their ideas into something entirely their own. 

“MT Stage is a gem of a program at the Jodie Mahony Center,” Ann Robinson, director of the Jodie Mahony Center at UA Little Rock, said. “It was created by Leslie Dudley Corbell, one of my former graduate students, and now, thirty years on, has been adapted by the current program director, Lori Delk, who is also an alumna of UA Little Rock’s graduate gifted programs. MT Stage showcases the creative vision of adults committed to providing children and adolescents with engaging experiences in a campus environment.”    

While this year’s theme is Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, the program’s mission remains unchanged: encouraging young people to create, collaborate, and discover where their imagination can take them.

The public is invited to experience the results of that creative journey at the Student Showcase Performance at 2 p.m. Friday, July 3, in Ledbetter ABC of the Donaghey Student Center, where participants will present the original production they developed throughout the week.

More than 30 years after MT Stage began, Davis Hendricks, director of the program, sees the same spirit of creativity and collaboration that audiences will experience at this year’s Student Showcase Performance.

“I am continually amazed not only by the creativity of these young people, but by the talent they bring to the table,” Hendricks said. “Watching them work together and collaborate is incredible. I’ve been involved with MT Stage for about six years and have served as its director for the past four, and I’ve never had as much fun as I have with this program.”